Chinese rail crash scandal: ‘official steals $2.8 billion’

Zhang Shuguang, the former deputy chief engineer of China’s railways, was detained in February on suspicion of corruption. His boss, Liu Zhijun, the Railways minister, was also arrested at the same time.

China Central Television, the state broadcaster, appeared to confirm rumours about the enormous sums that had been stolen. In a report on the Sina Weibo website, that was quickly deleted by censors, CCTV said Mr Zhang had $2.8 billion in his overseas accounts and that Mr Liu had taken up to 1 billion yuan (Â£95 million) in bribes.

The figures had been circulating previously on China’s rumour mill, but the report by CCTV appeared to be an official confirmation.